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EnderCast Episode #11 – The Giant’s Drink

Welcome to Episode #11 of EnderCast! For this week’s episode we talk about the various interviews Asa Butterfield did at CinemaCon and I flub and say Star Wars when I mean Star Trek. (you’ll know which part I mean)

About Ender’s Shadow: I’ve read comments that it is way better than Ender’s Game, and that Bean should be the main character in the franchise. And then other comments disagree, saying that Ender’s Shadow deconstructs the figure of Ender and makes Bean much smarter and more experienced and basically has you questions why, apart from his charisma, Ender and not Bean was chosen. What is your stance on that?

I side with Ender all the way. Since Card has said that Bean was never intended to be that way and Ender is the character I love the most, that’s probably why I didn’t like Bean being so smart and so potentially undermining for Ender. You don’t tout ONE kid as “The One” with a smarter backup that got given the reigns during the final battle. That really annoyed me.

Why do you think Card did it, though? I mean, did the story get away from him? Or did the try to sell more books by making Bean the new hero (because Ender was so damaged and also already established as older and far away through Speaker for the Dead)? I dunno, I have been holding off reading Ender’s Shadow because I adore Ender and his struggle is so heartwrenching – I don’t want to see it deconstructed and, you know, made less.